Gilley’s Beer Signs, Shirts and Posters

(February, 2012 NOTE: Since the airing, and re-runs, of the “American Pickers” episode where Mike and Frank meet Mickey Gilley and buy some of his memorabilia, prices for anything with the name “Gilley’s” on it have fluctuated widely from where they were prior to the episode, so any pricing information given in answer to questions posted by readers below is probably no longer meaningful. Use discretion and common sense when making an offer just as you would on any other purchase in life.)

Hey Ya’ll,

Today, June 26, 2011, I’m adding pictures of our posters, shirts and signs for Gilley’s Beer, including neon, paper/cardboard, and painted wood. They range from hard-to-find to one-of-a-kind. Enjoy.

Let’s start with the vintage classic Gilley’s Beer neon sign. They hung in the original Gilley’s Pasadena, Texas club and were also for sale for a whopping $150.00 each! That was a LOT of money back in the 1980’s so you can imagine they didn’t sell a ton of them. They are extremely hard to find today, especially since neon is so easy to break. When John Travolta asked Mickey Gilley if he could have one of these great neon signs, Mickey obliged. There is a picture of the presentation in the book “Saturday Night at Gilley’s.”

This Gilley’s neon sign measures about 25″ wide by 14″ high at the frame. We were lucky enough to be able to acquire a second identical neon Gilley’s Beer sign that is also fully functional. Below are two pictures, one of our sign lit up and the other while it was off.

Vintage original Gilley’s Beer neon sign from Pasadena, Texas.

Vintage original Gilley’s Beer neon sign from Pasadena, Texas. (off)

Next is an almost certain one-of-a-kind painted wood sign from Gilley’s Pasadena, Texas that was removed from the club during cleanup after the fire. When Mickey Gilley sued his partner Sherwood Cryer and won the lawsuit, their partnership was ended and the club was closed in 1989. Shortly thereafter, the club was gutted by a fire. Mickey accused Sherwood of having the fire set but no proof was ever found by the authorities to substantiate Mickey’s claim. GilleysMuseum.com has in its possession an email from a Pasadena, Texas local who claims they know who set the fire, and names names, but since we can’t verify the information we’ll just leave it at that.

This great vintage looking painted wood sign is quite large. It measures 6 feet wide by 2 feet high and is painted on 1/2 inch thick plywood, so it’s quite heavy too. There are 2 holes about 1 foot in on each side near the top where screws held it to the wall at Gilley’s back in the day.

The background color is a pale cream with a baby blue border. The cool vintage style “Drink Cold Beer” is in dark blue and Gilley’s is painted its classic red. This sign definitely shows its age and looks excellent for the period.

Our next sign is an 11″ by 17″ printed on heavy paper/card stock sign that hung in the original Gilley’s Pasadena, Texas club. As you can see, the paper is cream colored and the printing is in red and black. It features a drawing of the Gilley’s beer can with Mickey’s face inside an outline of the State of Texas.

Here’s an odd fact that hopefully someone out there can explain. The picture of Mickey shows him wearing a hat, but every beer can, bottle, or other product showing a Gilley’s beer can or bottle with a picture of Mickey Gilley in the state outline shows him without a hat. So is this just a random artist’s version of the can or is it a picture of a very rare can we’ve never seen before? HMMM??? Anyone have an answer? We’d love to hear from you.

So here’s the paper Gilley’s Beer sign.

Vintage Gilley’s Pasadena, Texas 11×17 paper Gilley’s Beer sign.

In our years of searching we’ve only come across 3 styles of Gilley’s shirts promoting Gilley’s Beer. The first is the only one of its kind that we’ve seen anywhere, and is not in either of our Gilley’s merchandise catalogs. It’s a light blue men’s dress shirt with a Gilley’s Beer bottle on the back. In fact, when Mickey Gilley was here he said he had never seen this shirt before either so it’s possibly a one-of-a-kind that never went into production.

Our shirt is a size 16-35 and is made of 65/35 poly/cotton. The shirt is branded with a tag that says Big Smith. It pictures a Gilley’s Beer bottle on the back and as you can see, Mickey Gilley is NOT wearing a hat in the picture on the bottle. It’s in excellent condition.

Vintage Gilley’s Beer blue men’s dress shirt. (back)

The front does not make any reference to Gilley’s Beer. It only shows the old Gilley’s Club logo, and features the classic arrow/slit pockets, so it most likely dates before the mid-1980’s. Here is a picture.

Very rare Gilley’s Beer men’s dress shirt – front view.

Next we have a vintage, classic red ringer on white Gilley’s Beer tee shirt. It’s a Screen Stars size large, made of 50/50 cotton/polyester fabric. It’s in great condition.

This one features the same graphic, on the front as well as the back, as the back of the dress shirt above. In addition, it says “Hot Times … Cold Longnecks.” It, too, does not appear in our catalogs so our guess is that it’s pre mid-1980’s. Here’s a picture.

Vintage Gilley’s Beer Bottle ringer t-shirt.

Our third shirt is also a red ringer on white vintage classic t-shirt. This great Gilley’s Beer tee shirt is a size medium, 50/50 cotton/poly Screen Stars shirt in beautiful condition.

It features a large Gilley’s A Premium Texas Beer logo with Mickey Gilley’s picture inside the Texas state outline. And again, Mickey is NOT wearing a hat. This shirt sold at Gilley’s in the mid-1980’s for $9.00 each. Here’s the picture.

Vintage Gilley’s Beer ringer t-shirt.

Our next picture is slightly off subject but it’s still a promo featuring Gilley’s Beer from the original Gilley’s club in Pasadena, Texas so I thought I’d throw it in. This is a full page ad in Variety Magazine (one of the top entertainment industry publications for decades) with a picture of the classic Gilley’s Beer can right in the middle. It’s dated August 23, 1979 and measures 14 1/2 inches high by 11 1/2 inches wide.

Gilley’s full page ad in Variety Magazine.

Again, slightly off topic but relevant is a rare Schlitz Beer poster featuring Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee. It measures 17 inches wide by 24 inches high and looks great. The poster is titled “Take a Schlitz Country Break.”

Vintage Mickey Gilley and Johnny Lee poster for Schlitz Beer.

And finally, here is a rare old 1981 Schlitz Beer poster Saluting Mickey Gilley. It measures 18 inches wide by 24 inches high and is in perfect condition.

1981 Schlitz Beer Salutes Mickey Gilley Poster.

Okay, I guess this is obvious, but for those of you who don’t do much buying and selling, any pricing/value given is only an estimate of current sales and prices. Condition, shipping costs, and changes in demand can cause large price changes and don’t invalidate the previously listed price, they just indicate how volatile prices can be from one like object to another over time. Remember, these items are decades old and can vary widely in all aspects of their value.

I guess that will about do it for today. Hope you like what you saw and again, please post any comments, questions or thoughts about these or similar items. We always love hearing from you.

Comments

hi my name is todd, i have the big poster that is on the top of your page. I also have a pool table light that hung in Gilley’s club, well it never hung in the joint in Pasadna, but it is in the shipping box with the address of pasadena TX. on Spencer Hwy. I bought it from someone at The Donkee mex reasturant neer the old Gilley’s club in 2004, what would somthing like that be worth??? it is new in box, it has three light bulbs and is operated with a pull chian

Assuming your vintage Gilley’s Pasadena, Texas poster is in perfect condition it would probably auction at $25 or more. Maybe much more, depending on the buyers, This poster, in perfect condition, is pretty hard to find.

As for the vintage Gilley’s Pasadena, Texas pool table light, again it’s pretty hard to find in new condition. We also have one that’s never been plugged in. I think a fair value is around $300 (they sold for $150 at the club in the 80’s), and it’s anyone’s guess what an auction might bring given the right audience.

yes i still have the light, i am inquiring about the price of the peice from american pickers, they have had alot of Gilley’s stuff on there latley. what is your offer? thanks. you can get ahol of me vie hottodddy45@yahoo.com

Hi to Todd and David. Just a quick note to let you know that you should be careful of putting too much weight on any pricing info from the American Pickers guys. First, some of the items they bought were purchased directly from Mickey Gilley on TV, so those prices are not indicative of prices in the open market. Second, after seeing the Mickey Gilley episode on TV I’m not convinced that their knowledge of Gilley’s memorabilia is much better than yours. They may be good at making a living by picking, but that doesn’t make them experts on Gilley’s product. Hope that helps.

I don’t blame you for wanting one of these great original Gilley’s neon beer signs, they’re very cool. Unfortunately we only have one in our collection and it’s the only one we’ve ever seen offered for sale, so we consider ourselves lucky to have found and purchased it. Wish I could be of more help but at the moment I have no idea where you might find one. I even saw a post online somewhere by Mickey’s son, Keith, who was looking for the one that was stolen from his club. Please let us know if you find one and what you had to give up to get it. Good luck with your search.

Hi. My husband and I visited Gilley’s over Labor Day weekend in 1980. While we were there we bought a white ceramic beer stein, stamped “USA” on the bottom, with “Gilley’s Pasadena Texas” etched in red on one side, a map of Texas with “Gilley’s Pasadena, Texas The World’s Largest Night Club” etched in red on the other side, and a transfer of a long-stemmed red rose in between. Any idea of its worth to a collector?

This original vintage Gilley’s beer stein, which is about an inch taller than the very similar Gilley’s ceramic mug, was made in two versions. You have the earlier one with the rose. The later version has a keyboard in place of the rose. Assuming yours is in near perfect condition, they usually go for about $15 – $25, but can go higher in a hot auction or to an excited buyer. As always, shipping is extra. Hope that helps.

Hi,
I have a 13 foot by 6 foot tall “Gilley’s Theater” Sign with the encased neon letters. The letters are worn and vintage and the neon is broken in various places but gives it that great vintage look. I was curious about the history of the sign.

They are some great signs. I must admit. I am partial to the wooden ones. There is something special about them apposed to the neon effect. I really like the posters. I think I will start looking for some to add to my own collection

I have 2 Coca-Colas which Mickey Gilley personally gave my father when he did some work at his house in Pasadena. On one side it has 1983 NSDA HOUSTON the other side has the Gilley’s logo. From the looks of the caps of the bottles, they are rusted and cant be read but they are sealed and intact. I was wondering what they were worth.

Unless you have documentation that they were given by Mickey I doubt you can get more for them than any other Gilley’s Coke bottles. Check the completed listings on ebay for recent sales. Prices are not stable so setting “a price” is not possible. They are probably worth more to you and your dad than anyone else so you might want to hold on to them. Hope that helps.

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